One of the performance attributes desired in a golf ball is a good feel when the ball is hit. Many attempts have been made to achieve a soft feel by reducing the hardness of the cover, but the soft feel in such cases is often attained at the expense of distance.
On the other hand, improving the distance of the ball generally requires that the cover be made harder, yet a hard cover compromises the feel of the ball on putter and approach shots.
The problem of how to improve both the feel and the distance of a solid golf ball has thus been regarded as intractable.
To this end, we earlier proposed, in Japanese Patent No. 2,658,811, a golf ball having a three-layer construction comprising a center core, an intermediate layer and a cover which effectively resolves this impasse by achieving both an excellent feel and improved distance. Moreover, there is proposed, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/390,290, a multi-piece solid golf ball comprising a solid core, an intermediate layer of at least one layer around the core, and a cover of at least one layer around the intermediate layer, wherein the solid core has a deflection A (mm) under an applied load of 100 kg, and a spherical body consisting of the core and the intermediate layer has a deflection B (mm) under an applied load of 100 kg, the value of B/A being from 1.0 to 1.5. But the high expectations golfers have of the golf balls they use continues to create a need for balls of even better performance.